Dawn Castro wrote for the VDT yesterday:
He also said:“We do have one of the best communities,” Tucker said. “The toughest part of me standing before you is knowing how much better we could be if all the little groups would work together.”
“I am still blessed to have my dad with me,” Tucker began. “He always asks me, ‘Where have you been?’ and ‘Did you do any good?’Here are a few good things Jerome Tucker has done recently: Continue reading
Tim Croft wrote for the Star Thursday, Developer pulls out of energy center project
What project? Down at the fourth paragraph the article finally says:Citing an inability to secure financing Rentech, Inc., the developer of the Northwest Florida Renewable Energy Center has pulled out of the project.
…a 55 megawatt energy plant to be built in Port St. Joe.The article blames the economy, but that wasn’t all that did in Continue readingThe plant, as proposed, would produce steam to drive generators to produce electricity, the fuel source woody biomass, or forest residue. Progress Energy had an agreement in place to purchase electricity from the plant.
Kathleen Murphy wrote for the Washington Free Press 3 June 2009 about How Marijuana Became Illegal,
As the methods for processing hemp into paper and plastics were becomingAnslinger and Hearst made up whatever propaganda they thought might scare the public into supporting prohibiting hemp: Continue readingmore readily available and affordable, business leaders including William Randolph Hearst and DuPont stood to lose fortunes. They did everything in their power to have it outlawed. Luckily for Hearst, he was the owner of a chain of newspapers. DuPont’s chief financial backer Andrew Mellon (also the Secretary of the Treasury during President Hoover) was responsible for appointing Harry J. Anslinger, in 1931 as the head of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs.
Richard Orange wrote for GlobalPost yesterday, A win-win on drugs? Fighting gangs by legalizing pot,
Not just drug toleration. Legalization: Continue readingCopenhagen’s city municipality voted in recent weeks, 39 votes to 9, to empower its social affairs committee to draw up a detailed plan to legalize cannabis.
If that plan is approved by Denmark’s new left-of-centre parliament next year, the city could become the first to legalize marijuana, rather than simply tolerate it, as police do in the Netherlands.
“We are thinking of perhaps 30 to 40 public sales houses, where the people aren’t interested in selling you more, they’re interested in you,” Mikkel Warming, the mayor in charge of social affairs at Copenhagen City Council told GlobalPost. “Who is it better for youngsters to buy marijuana from? A drug pusher, who wants them to use more, who wants them to buy hard drugs, or a civil servant?”
Continuing the
Comprehensive Plan Short Term Work Program (STWP) updates,
the chairman asked if the board was ready
Lowndes County Planner Jason Davenport responded:
We’re not done working on this. But if you think it’s time to bring it before y’all.
Later, at about 11:40 in, Davenport clarified:
And the only that’s different right now is Lowndes County. Because Lowndes County did not hold a public hearing as required, so we’re on a different timeline. And if Mrs. Quarterman would have given me about until December 13th she would have seen that.That would be the initial resolution the countyBecause our initial resolution was not the same as the other communities. We’re on a little bit of a different timeline because we have to address that issue. That’s one thing; the county in this instance will be handled a little different than some of the smaller cities and Valdosta.
did not provide in response to an open records request about the draft
the county did not publish as
required by the state.
If the county had answered questions weeks ago,
instead of waiting until they had to do makeup homework,
nobody would have had to ask about it at that GLPC meeting….
Anyway, the County Planner has said there will be a public hearing. However, remember it was the County Chairman who said that the public hearing item on the agenda was not really a public hearing. It’s the Chairman, not the Planner, who sets the agendas for the County Commission. We’ll see what’s on the 13th December County Commission Agenda, and whether it really is handled as a public hearing in that meeting.
Then GLPC Board Member John Page expressed his concerns: Continue reading
It would let big corporate copyright holders impose monitoring,
take down websites, and cut off funding, all without need for a court order.
There’s still time to oppose it.
Parker Higgins wrote for EFF Monday, The PROTECT IP Act Is Very Real and Very Bad — Call Now to Block It
The PROTECT IP Act (PIPA) is the evil step-sister of the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), the much-criticized Internet blacklist bill introduced in the House last month. They’ve got a lot in common — both bills would allow the government and private rightsholders to censor the Internet for Americans, and both bills have faced strong opposition from regular citizens, business leaders, and public interest groups.Here’s one way to contact your elected representatives. Or call them on the telephone. See also LAKE’s contact information for national elected officials.In one way, though, PIPA is much worse: while SOPA is still in the House committee stage and has been the target of extraordinary public opposition, PIPA is already out of committee and poised for consideration of the full Senate. That means PIPA is a few dangerous steps further along in the process of becoming law. And with only a few weeks to go in this legislative session, the Senate may try to rush the bill through before the public has a chance to respond.
-jsq
The House Democratic Caucus presents:Small Business—BIG CHANGE!
Entrepreneurial development is an effective economic development strategy. It can also be used as a vehicle for leveraging existing community strengths and diversifying local economies. In Georgia, small businesses are key to the state’s well-being. They account for a significant share of the state’s economic production and hiring. Small firms make up 97.8% of the state’s employers.
Creating economic security in any community first begins with understanding the impact of fiscal responsibility. Democrats are hosting this series of statewide seminars to build financial literacy for families, help with the information for startups and provide useful intel for existing small businesses.
Goals:
Saturday, December 3 from 9am-2pm, Valdosta, GA
- Provide information on financial literacy for individuals
- Encourage financial security and support entrepreneurship.
- Provide opportunities for entrepreneurs to connect with one another.
- Provide fledgling businesses with access to support services.
- Help entrepreneurs’ access capital.
Goodwill Industries
Career Center
1000-E North Saint Augustine Street
Valdosta, GA 31601Brought to you by:
Georgia House of Representatives Democratic Caucus
Cash Prosperity Campaign
Georgia Pro Bono Project
Could it be the many items the county is deleting, having to do with
feeding seniors, health care, transportation,
work ethics and life skills,
environmental impacts, agriculture, wells, wetlands, and many other topics,
some of which Gretchen Quarterman detailed to the Greater Lowndes Planning Commission yesterday?
After Valdosta and Hahira City Planner Matt Martin explained how all the local city governments had or were going to have hearings about their Comprehensive Plan Short Term Work Program updates, the GLPC Chairman asked if any citizens wanted to speak on that topic. One citizen did, Gretchen Quarterman. She apologized for missing the September GLPC meeting because she would have raised some of these issues then.
I have an appointment with [Lowndes County Planner] Jason [Davenport] tomorrow to address some of my questions.She said she would provide written comments to Jason the next morning, and asked if GLPC would like to hear some of them. They said they would, so she read some of them. For example:But I want to let you know that at the County Commission did not hold a public hearing after the changes. I was at the [Valdosta] City Council meeting, and the City Council did hold a public hearing, but the County Commission did not.
And I believe that is in violation of DCA’s guidelines. They sent a transmission letter that said they followed DCA’s guidelines. DCA’s guidelines say hold a public hearing. It was on the agenda, the public hearing, but no public hearing was held. So I didn’t have an opportunity to see the document, or to comment, before the county sent it.
In Section 1.3 it was struck from the document:Continue readingEnsure supporting senior services such as health care,
I repeatedly apologized to County Planner Jason Davenport
about an earlier misunderstanding about the
“public hearing” agenda item, which the Chairman stated was not really
a public hearing and for which no citizens were allowed to speak:
7.b. Greater Lowndes 2030 Comprehensive Plan Updates – Lowndes County Report of Accomplishments (ROA) and Short Term Work Program (STWP)Then I said:
Transparent government is totally what my heart is about. And I think that people trust the government more when we can see the business done in public. And I really appreciate when you do things in public and you ask questions in the work sessions so everybody can hear.The VDT’s version was:
The lone citizen to be heard, Gretchen Quarterman, thanked commissioners for their observance of open government and apologized to County Planner Jason Davenport for things she said to him prior to the meeting, due to a “misunderstanding,” she said.
After the meeting adjourned, Chairman Ashley Paulk apologized to me in public Continue reading
This issue has a lot of peculiarities. The city engineer was quoted as saying he hoped Radney Plumbing, Inc. could be chosen for theproject since the company had provided them a low price on similar work. Whatever happened to the bid procedure that is supposed to proceed any new construction activity regardless of personal preferences. Is this an impromptu public/private partnership where bidding gives way to cronyism? Oops, seems like I recently read that PPP’s were now being called beneficial corporations. Either way they are blatant fascism (mixing government & private business)& we don’t need them in Lowndes County. Under proper bidding procedures it would have been imposible for a contractor to have been given a go ahead by any mythical person. The project is expected to cost $132,000 of tax payer money & I think we deserve proper bid procedures to be certain we are getting maximum benefit from our expenditures.
I have no comment on the statement the pipe needed to be put in the ground so it would not go to waste other than I never new water/sewer pipe had a short expiraton date. Perhaps we should ask how so many feet of pipe were left over from another project since I’m sure 12″ pipe is not cheap. Does our project estimator need to sharpen his pencil?
It seems County Commission Chairman Paulk questions “the wisdom of spending that much taxpayer money without any prospect of income in the near future’. I’m glad someone is concerned about the taxpayers. Since it has been acknowledged we citizens have an interest in the obvious four way fiasco between city, county, private contractor & private landowners,I trust the VDT will continue to keep us informed of all the facts as they surface.
-Barbara Stratton